Midsummer's Nightmare
by Anne la Jordanie
Summary: Ever have one of those crazy dreams where nothing makes sense? So has the cast of Harry Potter! And when you're dreaming weird things happen, like romances that don't make any sense...


Midsummer's Nightmare

Right. Here I am, writing a story with my good friend Anna. We teamed up to write this after seeing Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream during first term, and things were paralleled to Harry Potter. And now, here's my author's note... It's hard to write one than type it. What should I say? Hmm...

Well, I ended up writing most of the first chapter. Anne and I edited it back and forth a couple times, then she added the opening and ending scenes. We planned out the rest while we were at it, and then each wrote an author's note. That's the basic story.

However, I should probably warn you now. We're both very busy (read very lazy) people, and won't always update on time. Never fear! I'll pester Anne for the next part and she'll do the same to yours truly.

Now, my hand is hurting and class is starting. I'm done rambling... for now.

Kittey Rin

She covered it pretty well... I can't remember why we're posting it on my account, but that's what we decided. Meh. Really, this is pretty much a co-crack fic. Oh, and we have a bit of mild slash, so be warned.

-Anne

We decided on Anne's account because she needs more traffic... I've already a story that broke 500 reviews. So that's why. 3

Kittey Rin

Mimicking Rin _She needs more traffic!_ I was supposed to post this last night, but I fell asleep. Rin's gonna kill me... and anyone who actually read this whole note gets an ice cream cone.

-Anne

* * *

It is a little known fact among Harry Potter fans (who are different from Harry Potter fans, which are a type of Harry Potter fan, but different from, say, Remus Lupin fans) that one night in the summer before Harry's fifth year all the characters had the same dream. 

A great many simply never bumped into someone they recognized and never realized the significance of the dream (amazingly, all the minor characters, like Sally-Anne Perks, did this). Some did meet their acquaintances and as such had a very interesting night, most of which they did not remember in the morning.

For your entertainment, we have pieced together a cohesive story from these varied accounts. That story is as follows:

* * *

It was unusual for Draco to be unable to sleep. Typically the Slytherin dormitories were quiet after a long day of power-playing. The children (not that they would admit to being children, being egotistical brats, as Slytherins tend to be) would retire to their comfortable beds, the best the wizarding world had to offer, beds that their families had insisted on for centuries. But tonight Pansy had decided to get her panties in a bunch over Daphne calling her a "grasping little chit from a filthy merchant family" and the resulting shrieks could be heard throughout the dungeons. 

So Draco Malfoy lay awake in his bed, practicing his sneer on the ceiling, while his ex-house elf, Dobby, looked on. Dobby was not particularly interested in his former master; it was the bed two over that he was concerned with. He had heard the young Wheezy girl talking to the occupant of that bed one night. When Harry Potter made the observation of the Wheezy girl being unhappy, Dobby decided to fix it. Anything to make Harry Potter happier with life.

He had the perfect plan. He had overheard an argument between the Wheezy twins earlier that night. They had been making an enormous ruckus outside of the dormitories, but Dobby was the only one to hear since the fight had been during one of the many class-times that took up students' hours during the day.

One Wheezy- the one had had once introduced himself to Dobby as 'Gred'- had admitted a love for the other- who Dobby knew as Forge. This freaked the second Wheezy out, and they began to argue. To make matters short, they had stormed off in either direction, one to class and the other to the dorms. It was a pure stroke of luck that Dobby followed the Wheezy he did (he was fairly sure it was Forge), for that was how he had found the potion he currently possessed.

Forge (who might have been Gred) had worked to perfect the potion in question alone and had immediately hidden it away. He had finished around supper, and when he left, Dobby appropriated a small amount. He recalled the mumbling of the Wheezy, so he knew how it worked. Now he had to put his plan into action.

* * *

Harry Potter wasn't even trying to sleep. The Gryffindor dormitories were almost never quiet, due mostly to Fred and George Weasley. But tonight there was an awkward silence between them and every Gryffindor was wondering what could have happened. George sat with Lee Jordan, staring morosely into the fire. Ron spent most of the evening speculating, while Hermione spent most of it scolding him for not doing his Potions assignment. 

"You know, he and Fred have never had a row before. This is the first time I can remember them having a real fight. Play fights and some scuffles, but I never thought they would really fight," Ron said softly, resting his chin on a hand, the elbow on the low table he had spread his things onto in an attempt to somehow comprehend the evil that called itself Potions.

Harry looked skeptical at that statement. "I find that a bit hard to believe, Ron. I mean, everyone fights sometimes. It's just a matter of time. Saying that they never had, and never would, is like saying the war will never come to Hogwarts."

Ron nodded, sighing. "I know, but even their worst scuffles weren't nearly this bad. I don't even see Fred."

The second half of the Weasley Twins was nowhere near the common room and hadn't been for some time. Harry recalled seeing him storm up to the dormitories earlier in the night, just after returning from the Great Hall. "He's upstairs."

A book slammed onto the table, making the two jump. Hermione gave them a look, and Ron returned sheepishly to his essay. "Harry," she said pointedly, turning to her other friend, "aren't you finished with your homework yet? Or are you talking too much?"

Harry shrugged. He had made up most of his stuff for class, knowing that Snape wouldn't be fair anyways and that Trelawny, who was the only other person to assign homework, wouldn't notice the difference so long as his predictions and thoughts were morbid and terrifying. "I'm already done." He saw Ron scowl out of the corner of his eye.

In the corner, George got up and announced loudly to the room, as he always insisted on being the center of attention, that he would be retiring to bed. Lee followed, which signaled the rest of the common room to begin preparations for the oncoming night. It was a noisy affair, with people shouting last minute notices to one another as they said their goodnights.  
Harry and Ron packed up with relief, ignoring the glares that Hermione gave them. They chatted amiably together, bidding a melancholy Ginny goodnight as she sat, cuddled cozily in one of the fireside chairs and kept her eyes locked on the fire. They ascended the staircase, Hermione to the girl's rooms, Harry and Ron to the boy's. Doors slammed shut, and even then, the fire popped and crackled happily, pushing back the silence that threatened to fall over the Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Fred sat on his bed, curtains drawn around him. He had went up to the dorms in order to prepare his plan. He waited, patiently, while he heard the others getting ready for bed outside his curtain-enclosed sanctuary. George was talking to Lee, whispering just outside his hearing range; Fred didn't need to hear what was being said in order to know his twin was talking about him.

After an hour, in which Fred waited with all patience he harbored in his sturdy Beater's body, the breathing in the dormitory evened out, signaling sleep. Quiet fell like a hammer, sudden and sending a ringing into Fred's ears. It was time to pull things together.

Moving with the grace and silence that would make a cat envious, Fred exited his cave of red to be met with the four other sleeping boys in the seventh year dorm. Three were disregarded, since they didn't harbor the prone form Fred hunted for. George, always one to sleep as heavily as any troll, had a bed right next to him. It worked out perfectly.

A small vial was taken from a side pocket in Fred's robes. It contained his newest idea- a potion that, when touched to the eyelids of a sleeping person, would make said person fall for the first person their gaze touched on. Fred planned to be out of the dorms well before any of the other boys woke up.

The curtains weren't closed, making his task that much easier. Uncapping the cork, Fred dipped in a finger to the powdered red substance. He had tested it out on Crookshanks, who had taken a sudden fancy to Millicent Bulstrode's feline companion (though not to having powder dabbed on his face), so Fred was confident it worked. Dabbing his pointer delicately on his twin's eyelids, he watched as the powder sat there for a moment and then disappeared. Fred smiled, knowing that the potion was working. Then, turning around, he moved to get ready for bed himself.

* * *

Ginny had no intention of going to sleep that night. She was going to sneak out of the common room with the help of Harry's invisibility cloak. She didn't think he would object to her borrowing it. He had been on her side in the argument with Ron, but he too was distracted by his own love affair with Hermione to be much help. 

It had all begun when the most handsome guy Ginny had ever met asked her out. The problem was he was a Slytherin. Ron did not like it, not a bit. So he took matters into his own hands and, as usual, bungled things. He found her a boyfriend of his choosing: one Draco Malfoy. Why Ron would prefer one Slytherin over another, much less that particular Slytherin, Ginny could not understand. She also couldn't understand why that particular Slytherin would agree and actually pursue her.

She did understand, though, that if she didn't do something she was going to find Draco Malfoy knocking on her door with a dozen roses in hand. That image was scary enough; the idea of Ron picking her dates was terrifying. So she planned to meet with her choice of a boyfriend tonight. Together they would come up with a way to make Ron leave them alone.

Slipping the invisibility cloak over her head, Ginny climbed out of the portrait hole to meet with Blaise Zabini.


End file.
